South Florida was 2014’s lone hot spot east of Rockies, report says

Wednesday

The U.S. East was mostly cooler than normal during 2014 — with the exception of Florida. (Credit: NOAA/ NCDC)

South Florida was the only area of the eastern U.S. that saw significantly above average temperatures in 2014, the National Climatic Data Center announced.

The report echoes recent findings by the National Weather Service in Miami that the West Palm Beach area had its 13th warmest year on record, 0.8 degrees above the 1980-2010 average. The average overall temperature last year of 76.2 degrees was ranked 13th when compared to records dating back to 1888.

Nationwide, 2014 temperatures were above average in the U.S., but nothing close to record territory. They were a half-degree above the 20th century average, making 2014 the 34th warmest year since 1895. The Midwest was colder than usual, but that was off-set by much warmer conditions in the West, according to the NCDC.

The only areas of the U.S. East that were above average were parts of New England and the Florida peninsula. South Florida, from Lake Okeechobee to the Keys, was "much above average" while California, Arizona and southern Nevada saw record warmth in 2014.

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WARM BUT WET: Highs in Palm Beach should be in the mid- to upper-70s through Thursday, NWS forecasters said, with rain chances ranging from 20 percent up to 50 percent. A cold front expected to roll through on Thursday is a wild card for next weekend’s weather, with forecast models split on how cool the air may be.

For now, Friday’s forecast high is 70 with weekend lows in the lower 60s.

Saturday’s low at PBIA was 59, which is close to normal for this time of the year. By comparison, this morning’s low was only 73. That is likely to set a record for warmest minimum temperature for the date. The current record is 71 degrees set in 1975.

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WINTER IN BLOOM: Parts of Britain and Ireland are ablaze in flowering plants — even though the calendar says it’s January. Botanists who conduct an annual survey of plants in bloom on New Year’s Day say in a normal year they find 20-30 species flowering. This year they found 368, according to the BBC.

Tim Rich, of the Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland, called the count extraordinary."During the holiday I drove along the A34 south of Newbury and saw half a mile of gorse in flower when gorse is supposed to flower in April and May," he told the British news agency. "It’s bizarre."

The increase may have been partially due to more volunteers doing the count this year, the BBC said.

Last week, the UK Met Office announced that 2014 was the warmest on record dating back to 1910 — and the warmest ever recorded for a Central England data set going back to 1659.